Flash of Lightning
by SteampunkFairytale
Summary: Isabella Stark, one and only child of Tony Stark, was sent away for her own protection. She was placed under the care of Charles Swan, agent of SHEILD and her new bodyguard, Clint Barton. But everything's strange in Forks. What is SHEILD doing there, and what does it have to do with the strange Cullen family? And what is that War Hammer doing in the middle of the woods? Bella/Thor
1. Misconceptions

**Hello my lovelies! To all my new readers, welcome, to those who have read me before, welcome back! This is Queen of the Skies, my Bella/Thor story, asked for by Lilithcase39girl. I'd also like to thank ImpKitty, who bounced ideas back and forth with me, and gave me a couple of genius ideas. Anywho, I don't own Twilight, Thor, Iron Man, or anything else you recognize. Please review and tell me what you think. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Queen of the Skies**

**Book 1: Flash of Lightning**

** Chapter 1: Misconceptions**

There have been a lot of misconceptions about me, the largest of which is my name. I am not Isabella Marie Swan, the shy girl that fell in love with a Vampire. My name is Isabella Maria Stark, the only child of the one and only Tony Stark, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. The Iron Man.

Of course most of the misconceptions about me were understandable; I did purposefully lead people to believe them about me. For a time I did go by the last name Swan, and lived with Charlie Swan, and I did date Edward Cullen, but not out of love for him, but for the love of my friends.

There are many misconceptions about me in the world, and before my true story begins, let me address them.

I have always been an exceptionally well balanced person; my training with Happy since I was old little assured that.

I never lived in Arizona, had never even been there in fact.

I've never been the exceptionally shy type, living with a last name like mine made that impossible, but I had to keep a low profile.

I don't get embarrassed easily, and trust me, if you had walked in on your father in a compromising position with a lady friend as many times as I had, you wouldn't either. And finally…

I've always loved thunderstorms.

The thrill of the thunder, the way the lightning tore across the sky, the delicious cool feeling of the rain on my skin. There was nothing on it really.

It made sense if you think about it, me and him. I fell in love with the storm, and when I lost him, it felt like the color had drained out of existence, had been pulled into the aurora that marked his departure. People assumed it was because of the departure of the man I loved, and they were right, it just wasn't the man they thought it was.

There was one thing, one tiny little detail about me that everyone got right. Or, at least, half right.

My mother's name is Renee Dwyer, and she's won the award for "World's Most Psychopathic Bitch" award for the majority of her life.

Renee and my dad met when they were fifteen, and that, in my father's words, was "The best drunken mistake in his life."

You see, dad and Renee never dated, never got married, in fact, it was the most Tony could do to keep Renee from aborting me, paying her god knows how much, and once he had me, they never saw each other again, had no contact whatsoever, and, from what my dad had found out about her later, our lives were all the better because of it.

There are many misconceptions about me in the world, and I am here to set them straight. But first, let me tell you a few things, so you can get to know the real me.

**The day my father was kidnapped**

Anthony Edward Stark, my father, was kidnapped at precisely 10:36 in the morning, on June 20th, 2009. I had just arrived in Miami with my best friend Rebecca Sparrow, for a two week vacation together, after three months of being apart. We had rented a hotel room, which had more of an apartment feel, it was so huge, and were both exited to spend time together, just me, Rebecca, and our two security teams. Rebecca's personal bodyguard and head of security was Matt Blake, one of the biggest, burliest men alive.

My Dad however, had taken me into consideration when he hired my constant companion. My bodyguard was Mary Faber, a lithe woman with curly blonde hair, who was ten times scarier than Matt. She was nice, she kept her distance, and was strictly professional, but she was generally kind to me.

I walked into my room, Movers carrying in my stuff, and putting them away for me, according to the very strict orders Pepper had given them. For my dad's PA, she did a lot more than expected of her, including being a mother to me, and giving me the rigid structure that kept my life in order. I fished my laptop out of my bag, and set it on the desk. My laptop was my baby. I had made it myself, and in my opinion, it was perfect in every way.

I opened it up, and JARVIS blossomed to life at once, with a, "Is there anything you require of me, My Lady?" I smiled at that. When I was six, I complained to my dad that JARVIS calling me 'Miss Stark' sounded like a schoolteacher, so, he sat me down in front of one of our computers, and taught me how to reprogram it.

He had to help me out quite a bit, but the deed was done in less than an hour. From then on, JARVIS called me My Lady, and dad, Sir. Dad had JARVIS change Pepper's name too, but that didn't end as well.

It's really very embarrassing when your father starts hiding behind his six year old daughter.

"Call Pepper for me JARVIS." I said, still smiling. After a moment, Pepper picked up, and her face appeared on my screen. A smile lit up her face at once.

"Bella! How are you? Did you have a good flight?" she asked me. My smile grew.

"Hey Pep, I'm good, I slept through most of the flight, so it only felt like a few minutes to me. By the way, how strict were you with those movers you hired, they seem terrified of putting anything even a hair out of place." Pepper laughed.

"Oh, I had Mary handle that."

"Enough said."

Speaking of Mary, she came out of her small, adjoining bedroom, and took her place in a chair nearby, watching the workers intently. Pepper and I chatted for a few more minutes, before hanging up. I called my dad then, and he picked up before the first ring ended.

"Hey Isi, what's up?" he asked brightly. I smiled at him.

"Not much, how did the presentation go?" Tony grinned.

"Knocked 'em out of the park of course." He replied.

"What're you up to now?" He shrugged noncommittally.

"Some tour or some shit like that I think, say, what do you think of the term 'Fun-vee'? I'm thinking of using it to bug Rhodey." He asked me eagerly. I smiled and shook my head at his childishness.

"Make sure you send Uncle Rhodey my love."

"Stark! It's time to go, come on!" Rhodey yelled. Tony rolled his eyes.

"I've gotta go Baby Girl, I'll call you later." I smiled at my father.

"Alright, I love you, have fun on you tour." A seldom seen softness crossed my father's face.

"I love you too Bella." And with that, he hung up.

He never called me back that day, or for many days after that.

* * *

**The day he called**

It had been months since my father's disappearance, and everyone was starting to loose hope that we'd ever find him.

When I'm shaken by intense pain, I shut down. It's like a safety switch. It saves me from my pain, I'm just numb, a shadow.

I hadn't left my room since I found out. Despite everyone trying to get me to relax, to not worry, I just spent my days at my computer, my phone at my side, waiting for a call I was starting to expect would never come.

Sitting, staring at the screen.

Staring at the phone.

Staring out the window.

Staring at the ceiling.

I got up, and started pacing. To the window, to the door, back to the desk. Window, door, desk.

Window.

Door.

Desk.

Empty, numb, I felt like a zombie. I was drowning in myself, in my numbness. If something didn't happen soon, I'd loose myself.

_Riingggg!_

* * *

**The day he came home (Cheeseburger first)  
**

It had only been three days since my dad had finally called me, to let me know that he was ok, that he would be coming home soon. He had changed, I could tell. He spoke differently, his tone, his words. He had changed.

Pepper and I were waiting for him, and I was pacing again. The last three days had been never-ending, waiting for my father to come back. but today was the day, the day I'd be able to feel my father's arms around me again, the day I'd be able to tell him I loved him to his face. The day my daddy came home. I felt like a little girl again, the little girl that spent her days glued to her daddy's side, the little girl that -shhhhh!- he had had tea parties with, and had watched Disney princess movies, and had noisily sung along to 'under the sea' together. Despite his protestations and 'tough guy who doesn't give a damn' attitude, my dad was really and old softie, and everyone who was close to him knew it.

The plane had landed, and I was craning my neck, in order to see him as soon as possible. I was rewarded a minute later when he appeared in my line of sight. With an unintelligible yell I ran straight at him, ploughing into him with all my strength. As my father's arms wrapped around me, I felt something cold and metallic pressing into me. I looked up at Tony, letting my confusion cross my face freely. He looked pained.

"There's a lot I haven't told you yet Baby Girl." He said quietly. We arrived at Pepper then, who had remained where she was, and we stopped talking, dad giving me a meaningful look that said he would be explaining everything later. He and Pepper talked for a moment, and we all got into the car. I didn't even ask for the window seat, I had been far enough from my dad for too long, and I wasn't going to leave his side for at least a week.

"Tony, you really need to go to the Hospital." Pepper protested.

"No Pepper, I've had enough doctors poking at me in the last week to last a lifetime. There are three things that I want to do. One, I want an American cheeseburger, two, I want to have a movie marathon with my daughter eating cookie dough and cotton candy, and three," he looked at Pepper then, and she immediately assumed the worst.

"No." she said flatly.

"No, not that! I want you to call a press conference, now, let's go, cheeseburger first."

* * *

** The day I found out that he was Iron Man**

I had seen my dad in a lot of strange positions, and a lot of them I never wanted to see him in again. But this, no matter the fact that I had seen him in stranger, took the cake.

_"Are those bullet holes?"_

Dad had become quiet since he came home, locked up in the workshop almost constantly, and apparently, I had just found what he had been working on.

"Let's face it, this isn't the worst thing that either of you have caught me doing." Dad said to me and Pepper, the woman who I've considered my mother for the majority of my life. Well, mother and older sister, they're really not that much older than me, Dad and Pepper, teen pregnancy can be a real bitch huh? Well, that only made us closer, if anything. Dad was more like a cool older brother most of the time. He never told me to go to bed, to brush my teeth, to eat my vegetables, nothing.

And that gave _so_ much fuel to the belief that liberal parents create conservative children. I was, quite possibly, the most responsible seventeen year old that the universe has ever seen. Well, there had to be at least one level headed Stark, or else America would have fallen into chaos years ago.

"What the hell have you been doing _now_?" I exclaim, looking at the gold and red metallic suit that my father had on, the arc reactor keeping him alive exposed. He met my eyes, brown on brown. We looked a lot alike, me and Dad, brown hair, and brown eyes. The only thing I got from my biological mother was her fair skin, and in my opinion, that was too much.

I had met Renee only once, and that was one time too many. She was a cold hearted bitch, saying nasty things about me and Dad, blaming me for her misfortune in life, it was really harsh, and I had spent the next month crying into my pillow because of that encounter.

Worst sweet 16 _ever_.

"Well, in a nutshell." Dad said. "S.I. is corrupt, has been dealing under the table for years. I'm putting a stop to it." Pepper and I glanced at each other, and sat down on nearby chairs.

"Start explaining, _now_."

* * *

**The day that changed it all**

My Dad had come out as Iron Man two months ago, and people from his past were crawling out of the woodworks. Some were old 'friends' that wanted his help, but more often, they were old enemies that wanted to do away with the Stark family. My security team had doubled, and Mary slept in the same room as me now. Dad hadn't let anyone get anywhere near me yet, but it had only been a matter of time.

I had gone out shopping with Rebecca. It was one of my favorite things to do, and I wasn't America's fashion icon by wearing sweatpants. We were walking arm in arm, debating whether our bodyguards were secretly dating or not, when it happened.

There was a massive explosion throwing me and Rebecca backward, me into a clothing rack, and Rebecca into one of those industrial mirrors. I didn't know it at the time, but Rebecca hadn't made it, dying on the spot. Mary and Matt were there in a flash, ready to defend me and Rebecca. The men came then, pointing guns at people and looking around the shop. When they found me, Matt and Mary tried to fight, but it was useless, and I saw Mary take a bullet in front of my own eyes.

"Mary!" Matt yelled running to her, taking her into his arms. Huh, looks like Rebecca was right, they were together. But I never got to tell her that.

I wasn't there when Mary died. I never got to say goodbye, to thank her for everything she had done for me. I tried to fight them, I really did, but I was easily overpowered, and knocked out.

When I came to, I was in a warehouse, a warehouse that I wouldn't be in for long, I was confident. The idiots hadn't even frisked me, the watch with the tracking device in it that my dad had given me still there, it was only a matter of time before these morons would taste repulser.

I see your awake, did you have pleasant dreams?" a voice asked. it was tinny and deep, like Darth Vader's, and I looked up to see a man in some crazy cloak that covered his face.

"Err, what the hell?" I asked intelligently. Making to sit up and rub my eyes. "Who the fuck are you?" a deep robotic laugh filled the empty warehouse I apparently was being stored at. Really, couldn't this bad guy at least have some class? Secret lair, you know. No, I get kidnapped by Darth _Lamer_ and get stuck in a waterside warehouse tied to a post. Fun.

"I am Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams." The Jawa answered. Well, at least he's in a chatty mood.

"Anddddddd why am I here?"

"You are Isabella Stark, daughter of the Iron Man. You are here to insure that Iron Man doesn't interfere with my plans. King Dorkacus replied.

"Yeah, I prefer Bella. So, let me get this straight, you told my dad that you have me?"

"Yes, I did."

"And when was that?"

"About an hour ago." I smiled at that.

"Tell you what, Darth Idiot, you let me go now, and I'll make sure that my dad doesn't kill you." Morpheus started laughing at that.

"Hah! You really think that I will let you go, you naïve little…" **BOOM!** My dad came blasting through a window, and landed right in front of me. His visor lifted, and he winked at me.

"Hey Baby Girl." He said brightly. "You ok?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, how's your day been?"

"Annoying as hell, you?"

My dad and I got into a big argument that lasted for almost a month then. He started to go insane with my security. And he came, the devil himself in an eyepatch. Nick Fury.

He came and offered a plan. I would leave, go to some remote part of the country, with a new last name and SHEILD agents to guard me 24/7. Dad, who generally despised Fury and SHEILD as a rule, jumped on this plan eagerly, anything to keep his 'Baby Girl' safe. There were several agents in Forks, Washington, and they had established a base under the guise of the local police department. Charles Swan, age 42, was the perfect cover for me. A single divorcee Chief of Police, and one of SHIELD's best undercover agents, and remember my mother, Renee? Turns out _she's_ his ex wife! And according to Pepper, I even look a bit like Charlie. And so, my fate is decided. I'm going to live in this town so stupid it's named after cutlery, with a 'perfect cover' as the chief of police's estranged daughter, after watching the murder of your best friend and bodyguard.

Fuck. My. Life.


	2. Welcome to Forks

**Hello lovely readers! Here, have an update just because you're so wonderful. I had fun writing this chapter, and I hope you have fun reading it, please leave a comment to let me know what you think, I appreciate all forms of feedback, positive or negative, it helps me to grow as a writer.**

* * *

**Queen of the Skies**

**Book 1: Flash of Lightning**

** Chapter 2: Welcome To Forks**

I had arrived in Forks without any incident. I had been debriefed so many times that I lost count, and my cover story had been forcefully hammered into my head. Hopefully my dad will recover his senses soon and let me come home, but he was so shaken by the attack, so worried about me that he wasn't thinking clearly. Just before I left, Pepper and I spent some time in my garden, transplanting a few plants that I loved into pots so I could take them with me.

I had a bodyguard here too, Coach Clint Barton, Forks High's Gym teacher, who boarded in one of Chief Swan's spare room. I was going to meet him as soon as I arrived at Charlie's, as he insisted I call him in private. I had been provided with the crappiest car imaginable, an old, red Chevy. As The Thing, as I deemed it, rattled into the driveway of the big two story white house, covered in old vines, the door opened, and a man walked calmly out. This must be Barton. Charlie and I exited the truck, and Charlie greeted Clint warmly.

"Bella, this is Clint, your new Bodyguard, and a damned fine man. If there's any SHEILD agent in this backwater town that you won't be tempted to scream at and attempt to painfully remove the stick up their ass, it's this guy here." Clint laughed at Charlie's statement, offering his hand to me warmly.

"It's nice to meet you Bella, and don't listen to this son of a bitch, he's by far the most easy going man I've ever met." Charlie shook his head.

"No man, you are by far the coolest agent in town."

"No…"

"Ok!" I said loudly, cutting them off. "Enough with the bromance love fest. Go on a date, make out a bit, and get _over_ it! Okay? Good, now where's my room?" The pair stares at me for a few seconds, before bursting out in uncontrollable laughter.

"Aww man, she's just like Natasha!" Clint crowed, throwing his arm around me comfortably. "You have successfully earned my respect Stark, you're awesome." I smiled, Clint's humor making me relax for the first time in weeks.

"I know what I am." I said with my patented cheeky grin. "You're the one who's on trial here." Clint laughed again, leading me into the house and up the flight of stairs, which seemed to be all Bedrooms. I was all the way down the hall, in pretty room that I immediately knew Pepper had decorated. It had to be her, it was so simple and beautiful, but everything was functional. A tear slid out of my eye as I walked in, looking at what the woman I considered a mother did for me.

The walls were white, which yeah, wasn't all that interesting, but it made the room feel airy and clean, not to mention was nice and bright compared to the gloom outside, and there were a few pictures on the wall, as well as little things throughout the room that would remind me of home, like the smell of flowers all throughout the room, just like my room at home did, because I had the garden on the same floor, especially lilac, which was one of my favorites. The flowers pepper and I had transplanted were already here, scattered about the room. There were Tiger lilies in the corner, an especially small pot of Primroses on the vanity, and violets on my bedside table. A wide window looked into the backyard, and directly in front of it was the desk. Attached to the window on the outside was a flower box, with orange trumpet flowers hanging out of it, striking against the sheer green of the world I am now in.

I had a white and dark purple duvet, with crisp white sheets and a purple throw blanket. The rocking chair I had had since I was a baby was there two, as well as my first baby blanket, which still smelled like my dad if I buried my nose into it, I knew. The room was so different than my old room at our house in Malibu, but it felt so much like home that I nearly burst out crying then and there. I would definitely be crying myself to sleep tonight. Clint and Charlie placed my bags on the floor, and then awkwardly looked around.

"Umm, well, I guess we'll leave you to get settled." Charlie said. "Your dad told me that you like pizza, so we'll be having that for dinner." I nod at him, somehow summoning up a smile.

"That sounds great Charlie." I said with false enthusiasm. Never let them see your pain, that was one of the first things I had to learn as a Stark, you show pain or vulnerability, people will swoop down on you like vultures on their next meal. Clint looked at me seriously, in serious bodyguard mode.

"I'll be in the next room over if you need me, alright?" he said, then grinned at me before walking out. Once I was alone, I sighed, plopping onto my new bed tiredly. It had been a long day, and I hadn't had a moments rest since I landed, it was all debriefings and introductions. I looked around my new room again, I knew exactly why Pepper had done this for me, as a reminder of home, yes, but it wasn't just that, this room was now my stronghold, the only place I could truly be myself now, my own little world, pretty and bright and far away from the dense green that was everywhere else. I let out a quiet, shaky sob and dove into my pillows, crying long and hard, until there simply were no more tears left in me. When I was done, I dried my eyes and walked into my private bathroom, a luxury I was told my father insisted on. Well, at least he did one thing right in this matter. I splashed some cold water on my face, before going back out and beginning the process of unpacking, eager for something to distract me.

I had gotten all my clothes put away, my books put on the shelf and had half finished putting away the contents of my toilette bag when a knock sounded at my door and Clint stuck his head in.

"Pizza's here." He said, before pulling his head back out and closing the door. I sigh again, considering not going down at all, just hiding in my sanctuary as much as possible, before the loud rumble from my stomach answered my question for me. I frown at my traitorous abdomen before dropping the bag I was unpacking and heading for the door.

Clint and Charlie were waiting for me in the spacious living room, munching on cheese pizza and Buffalo wings, my favorite. The two men smiled at me and waved me over to an armchair by the fireplace, Charlie immediately dumping a well filled plate into my lap.

I did eat, scout's honor, I did eat…a bit. Ok, I mostly just picked at my food until Charlie mercifully took it away. I had been a little bit hungry, but I was just so sick to my stomach that I just couldn't eat very much. I missed home, my dad, who smelled like motor oil and expensive cologne, Pepper, who smelled like vanilla and cinnamon, and JARVIS and the other robots, this place would never be my home, I could never find peace here, I knew exactly where I was, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get out.

I stood abruptly, taking my plate and putting it in the sink.

"I think I'll turn in now, goodnight." I said quickly, trying to fight a new onslaught of tears. They nod, letting me go, thinking that they knew what I was going through, but they didn't, they had no idea what was going through my head as I ran up the stairs and dove again into my bed, sobbing hysterically.

This wasn't my home,

This was hell.

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I may have been the most uncomfortable I had been in my life. My face was flushed, clammy and sticky from my bout of extreme tears last night, I was freezing by ass off because I forgot to pull the blankets over myself, and my jeans were cutting off the circulation to my legs. I sit up, blearily blinking away the sleep, when I glanced at my clock.

"Shit!" I swore, tumbling out of the bed, it was 7:00, and I was supposed to start school today at Nine exactly. But i had to be at school by 8:00, because my bodyguard was a teacher, and couldn't leave me alone, so, I get to go to school an hour earlier than everyone else. Not to mention that I would be going to public school for the very first time in my life, in the middle of the school year, after I had already graduated two years ago. Fan fucking tastic, I should really send my dad a thank you card for this. I practically ripped my clothes off, jumping immediately into the ice cold shower; gasping out profanities the moment the frigid water touched my skin. I scrubbed myself down with the soap -apparently even my shower gel was forbidden- and leaped back out into my blessedly warm room, bee lining for my closet and pulling out an outfit.

I winced in disgust the moment my new wardrobe caught my eye. Well, if anyone could recognize me in _those_ clothes, then they deserved to kill me, and I may not even mind it too much. I picked out one of the least repulsive outfits, a black long sleeved T-shirt and hoodie, and pulled it on in front of the radiator. I didn't put on makeup that day, just went over my eyebrows with the tweezer, making sure I was well groomed. Again, if someone recognized me, they definitely earned it. I pulled my hair into a French braid, a style that I loved but barely ever wore in public, and ran downstairs, jumping the last bit. Clint was in the kitchen, munching a poptart and reading over some files. I went over too the cabinet for something to eat, smacking Clint upside the head on my way.

"Shit, what the hell was that for?" he demanded, wiping his face from where it had just slammed into his breakfast.

"Why didn't you wake me up this morning Birdbrain? We're going to be late!" for public school, I can barely contain my delight, **_not_**. Clint groaned.

"Aww shit, I knew I forgot something, sorry Bella." He said apologetically, rubbing the back of his head where I hit him. I looked at the clock.

"Damn, I don't have time to eat, come on or you'll be late." I said, heading to the door, snagging my red converse and black raincoat in the hall, since it was, of course, raining, and making a run for Clint's car, a small, dark grey thing that probably ran so much better than my truck, and successfully sliding into the passenger seat only minimally wet. Clint was only a moment behind me, sliding into the driver's side and twisting the key in the ignition. Before I was done blinking the rain out of my eyes, we were on the road. It was a fairly silent trip, until Clint groaned and smacked his head.

"Man, I'm such an idiot, I completely forgot! They serve breakfast at the school for kids who arrive early, you can buy food there!" But the nausea had returned, leaving me less than hungry.

"That's ok Clint, I'll be fine." I said. "I'm not that hungry anymore anyways." Clint gave me a teasing look.

"Awwe, is ickle baby Bewwa getting the fiwst day gittews?" he said in the absolute worst baby voice I had ever heard. I laughed and shook my head, my shoulders relaxing slightly as I came down from the high with a small sigh.

"This is my first time ever going to a public school." I said unnecessarily, since Clint was sure to know that from my file, but I wasn't done. "People always knew me by my last name before, trying to be my friend in order to access my fame, that's not going to happen here, and I'm afraid that I won't know how to deal with people treating me based on who I am, not what I am, so yeah, I guess you could call me jittery." Clint nodded, before bringing an arm around my shoulders in a comforting gesture.

"You'll be fine Swan, trust me, I've been around these damn students for a few months now. In fact, we even have a few teenaged agents in the school." That sparked my interest.

"Really, who?" I ask eagerly.

"She's going by Angela Webber here, she's a child prodigy in the sciences, much like some other female student enrolled in Forks High." Clint said with a wicked look in my direction. Hmm, it would be nice to be able to talk to someone outside of her father about science. In fact, finding someone who could at the least moderately keep up with me would be amazing; I'd have to search out Angela Webber. We arrived at the school then, and went straight to the office to sign me in. the woman behind the desk gave me my papers. We went to Clint's office then, and I sat in a chair, trying to commit the map of the school to memory. Clint snorted.

"You won't be needing that." He informed me. I raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look I knew to be an intimidating one, but the damn idiot wasn't fazed.

"And why not?" I asked with a small frown. Clint rolled his eyes and gave me a grin.

"You have at least one SHIELD agent in every class, They'll make sure you won't get lost." Clint's grin grew. "Not to mention you're fresh meat in a small town school, every guy won't be able to take their eyes off of you." I rolled my eyes.

"Great, that's exactly what I need." I mumbled under my breath. Clint chuckled.

"Well, maybe getting yourself a boytoy would help you settle down a bit, might be good for you." I look at Clint, aghast.

"Are you my bodyguard or my matchmaker? Leave my love life alone Barton! I'll date whenever I feel like it moron!" Clint started to crack up again, while I was still glowering at him darkly.

"Oh, man! You really _are_ so much like Natasha! That's awesome!" I frowned at him, this was the second time he had brought up this Natasha, and being compared to someone I didn't know was starting to piss me off.

"Who the hell is Natasha?" I asked him. He smiled, a little dreamily, at the thought of this woman.

"Natasha Romanov, my partner, she's off on a separate mission now, but you'll probably meet her soon, you'll like her, she's very… self reliant."

"Not a phrase every girl dreams of being described as." I said with a small smile. Clint shrugged.

"It's the most politically correct statement I can think of when it comes to Nat." He said simply. "Any others either aren't descriptive enough or would get me neutered."

* * *

As it turned out, I didn't have to track down Angela Webber, she found me.

I was sitting at an otherwise empty desk in trigonometry class, when a pretty girl with tan skin and dark hair sat down next to me, looking at the chalkboard at the front, casually adjusting her glasses. We sat quietly for a minute, before she finally spoke.

"Personally, I hate this class, always have. Trig classes are always tedious, but they're so essential to Engineering and Physics, that you have to pay attention. Well, for the first time, it gets worse and worse every time you repeat the class, I can't wait until I graduate into a full agent." Angela turned to look at me then, a small smile on her face. "It doesn't help that the teacher is an idiot either." A slow smile started to creep it's way onto my face as I stuck out my hand.

"You must be Angela." She smiled, taking my hand warmly.

"That would be me, Bella Swan. it's good to finally meet you, I've read some of the papers you published on Relativistic Physics, you have quite a knack for the details." My smile grew much larger and even more genuine at her compliment, she really was clever.

"I published that particular paper under a nom de plume." I said simply, giving Angela a look equal parts curious and impressed.

"But your style was clear, and distinctly unique." She pointed out casually, like she was mentioning the style of my shirt. She smiled warmly at me, and I found myself answering it just as warmly.

Maybe Forks wouldn't be so horrible.

This day, oh so commonly known as the day I first saw Edward Cullen, I remember for several different reasons, Edward was simply a strange footnote at the end of the chapter. This was the day that I met my new Best Friend, and marked the beginning of a strange brother/sister relationship with my bodyguard, and the day I met the strangest person I had ever seen apart from my own father.

This person, was Jessica Stanley.

Poor Jessica, people think that she's a manipulative little bitch who hated me. She's annoyingly over energetic at times, I'll admit, and…well, she is a little strange, but she really is sweet. Just never give her a police baton, and we're golden. Mike Newton learned that lesson the hard way.

Speaking of 'The golden retriever" as many have so generously called him, well, that story is actually a little complicated. Really, how could one story have been so opposite? He was only a seventeen year old mutant secret agent with a debilitating addiction to flirting. Honestly, how hard is that to grasp?


End file.
